User blog:Dargoo Faust/Semifinale: Gatewatch vs. Heroes of Maple
Dire circumstances can make the most unlikely of allies. Thieves, Murderers, and everything in between can be called a 'hero' if the stars allign, and these two groups took to the stars and beyond to end evil in spite of personal history and disagreement. While things may be rocky at first, and the future looks grim, rest assured the world is a little more safe - and a little less safe - with these bands of wild heroes. The Gatewatch, a band of planeswalkers dedicated to fighting threats to the multiverse. VS. The Heroes of Maple, a band of warriors and mages who sealed the Black Mage and saved existance. WHO IS THE DEADLIEST!? SEASON 1 EPISODE 14 SEASON SEMI-FINALE 'The Gatewatch' The multiverse is a vast expanse of different planes, each with their own history, magics, and demons. Planeswalkers, however, are born with the gift to traverse the Blind Eternities and travel between worlds, once their spark ignites after an emotional event of great significance. When one receives this gift, it is often true that they become a power-mad mage that cares only for themselves. However, there are those who kick back against the evils that threaten each plane, and the multiverse as a whole. When Zendikar fell prey to the eldritch horrors of the Eldrazi and drew close to its death, four heroes emerged and forged an unlikely alliance, and after the menace was dealt with, this band of friends would declare their mission to fight every evil that would threaten the multiverse again. |-| The Warrior= Gideon Jura Gideon Jura, born Kytheon Iora, is a hieromancer and planeswalker beholden to the multiplanar coalition known as the Gatewatch. His distinctive weapon, the sural, consists of multiple whip-like blades anchored to the exterior of an armguard. He traverses planes looking for conflict between the forces of good and evil, and has been fighting for most of his life after his spark ignited. From the Eldrazi of Zendikar to the guild feuds of Ravnica, you'll always see Gideon fighting on the side of good, like a stunning clone of He-Man. Magic, Weapons, and Abilities * Gideon's Sural - To avoid confusion, Gideon's Sural is essentially an armguard with an Urumi attached to it. His version of the Sri Lankan-based weapon, however, is unnaturally more flexible, durable, and can extend and retract in length. Gideon wields the weapon with enough skill to casually tear apart Eldrazi drones and processors, as well as using it to constrain foes via its blades wrapping themselves around a foe. He can also use it as a channel for his Hieromancy; it is sometimes embued with a white glow that can nullify magical abilities. * Indestructibility - Gideon's innate ability allows him to focus energy on certain portions of his body to make them virtually invulnerable. This takes the appearance of a golden haze surrounding parts of his body, like a veil or mist. This power has allowed Gideon to tank hits from Gods and mountain-sized Eldrazi, and compliments his hands-on approach to battle. His ability protects him from physical damage only however. Magical fires and giant stone fists can't even give him a papercut, but he can still drown or suffocate. His ability has only been negated on three occasions, via counter-magic (Nicol Bolas), reality-warping (Kozelik), and power nullification (Amonkhet Gods). * Hieromancy - An art seemingly exclusive to the M:tG multiverse, the MTG Wiki defines a hieromancer as "white mages that use their power to enforce order or suppress the abilities of others". Hireomancy is like laws, if they had the literal capacity to keep you from doing things. Gideon's magic can form golden chains that can restrict movement and nullify magical abilities, however strong enough foes can break his hold via pure physical force or counter-magic. |-| The Glass Cannon= Chandra Nalaar Chandra is one of the rare pyromancers and magic users from the industrialized plane of Kaladesh. Opposed to the restricted and beurucratic nature of the politics of her homeplane, Chandra values freedom and self-expression, which is seen in her battle strategy - the lack thereof. If there's something she doesn't like, she burns it. If that doesn't work, she burns it more. Chandra joined the gatewatch in an effort to quell the threat of the Eldrazi and future interplanar threats to the multiverse. She is very much a loose cannon of the group, and hates coordination and often times makes thing more complicated for the heck of it. Magic, Weapons, and Abilities * Pyromancy - Chandra's pyromancy is intrinsically tied to her emotional state. While tempered and calm, she can call smaller flames to warm her allies, but when enraged she can burn down entire castles and take down towering gearhulks. Outside of using flames to cause explosions and burn down buildings, Chandra can also focus her fire to achieve flight, Oberseved by Nicol Bolas, Chandra is very much a one-trick chick. All of her abilities stem from her pyromancy. * Summons - Chandra can summon a variety of fire-based elementals, from Phoenixes to walking golems of magma and fire. The largest extent of this ability was her spitfire, whose wingspan was several dozen meters of flame. * Heat Immunity - Chandra is immune to all forms of fire, heat, fire-based magic, regardless of status effects or enchantments the fires carry. She demonstrated this by leaving the Purifying Fire unharmed, which was a flame that could remove the planeswalker spark and all magical ability from the most powerful mages. She takes advantage of this by casually heating her fists and body to the temperature of lava, allowing her punches to melt metal and stone. |-| The Summoner= Nissa Revane Nissa Revane is a founding member of the Gatewatch and a powerful Animist, who weilds the ability to manipulate the leylines of mana and connect to the spirit of any plane that she is on. Originally a elf of the tribe of Joraga, Nissa suffered visions of an unspeakable horror that would overtake her world - the Eldrazi. The embodiment of Zendikar's mana reached out to Nissa, who gained the ability to manipulate the flow of mana and create powerful elementals. After the defeat of the Eldrazi titans Ulamog and Kozilek, Nissa and Jace, Chandra, and Gideon formed the Gatewatch. Magic, Weapons, and Abilities * Sword of the Animist and Reclamation Magic - Nissa's staff is actually a holster for her signature sword, which acts as a channel for her elemental spells. A special ability of her sword is reclamation, or the magic of destroying man-made objects. With a strike from her sword and concentration of her abilities, Nissa was able to shatter even the Hedrons constructed by Nahiri, which could imprison Eldrazi. She is also a master swordswoman, and even without her magic was able to keep up with the trained mages and athletes of Amonkhet. * Animism - Nissa's primary power stems from her ability to connect to the spirit of the land, which enables her limited control over the flow of mana and magic depending on her familiarity with the plane (on Zendikar, she can summon enormous elementals and building-sized vines, yet on the hostile plane of Innistrad she could hardly use her powers). In short, she can summon elementals out of rocks and vines, as well as manipulate plant and create plant life to strangle her enemies in vines. She can also siphon mana from the land around her far more efficiantly, and can power up her teammate's spells, such as Chandra's pyromancy. * Resistance to Magic - As a secondary effect of Nissa's connection to a plane, she can partially redirect the magic of any spell, which allowed her to resist mind control from Jace, and survive a life-drain spell from Ob-Nixilis. |-| The Tactician= Jace Beleren Jace Beleren is a talented telepath and illusionist from the plane of Vryn, who works as the often ignored strategist of the group. Along with Chandra, Jace is one of the planeswalkers responsible for the release of the Eldrazi in a violent confrontation between the two planeswalkers. Eventually, Jace and Chandra put aside their differences and joined together in the fight against the Eldeazi menace, and formed the Gatewatch as a means to preserve order in the multiverse. Jace is extremely intelligent, and can asses and respond to situations at a remarkable speed. Magic, Weapons, and Abilities * Telepathy - Jace is a naturally talented telepath, and learned the art under the tutelage of the sphinx Alahammaret. Depending on the willpower and psychic resistance of the mind he is entering, Jace can read thoughts, mess around with a person's perception and senses, and, with varying effort, mind control people. When Jace is desperate and fearing for his life, he 'overloads the senses' of a mind, effectively causing brain-death. However, Jace has only had limited success in many of his mind attacks. Despite being called one of the multiverses's best telepaths, people like Gideon could resist his abilities off of sheer will alone. * Illusions - Jace's illusions are distinctively separate from his telepathy, as his illusions are actual refraction of light that he can create that simulate the colors, scent, and sounds of whatever Jace wants his opponents to see. Jace, using this, can create multiple illusory copies of himself, making it difficult to properly pin him down, and he can keep opponents wary by creating illusions of different monsters and threats. * Countermagic - Jace is adept at counter-magic, or the art of dissipating the energy of magical spells and abilities. For instance, Jace can wash away even Chandra's flames with the swipe of a hand. This takes the appearance of a transparent blue shield around Jace and (with more effort) his allies, that can block magical lighting, fire, and even mental attacks. He was even able to dissolve the entire Halimar Sea when it was thrown at the Gatewatch, countering Kiora's hydromancy, and block a mental attack from the Eldrazi Titan Emrakul. However, this cannot protect Jace from purely physical attacks. |-| The Medium= Ajani Goldmane Ajani Goldmane is a leonin planeswalker from the plane of Alara, and was the last planeswalker to join the Gatewatch before their defeat at the hands of Nicol Bolas. Ajani admired the group's purpose in stopping multiplanar threats, and was impressed by their actions in fighting the Consulate of Kaladesh, although he disagrees with much of the group's rash thinking and overconfidence. Before his short time with the team, he was a center of heartbreak and loss, starting his journey as a planeswalker in a campaign of revenge against Bolas for the death of his brother, and then losing a confidant and friend, Elspeth Tirel, during his adventures on the plane of Theros. Magic, Weapons, and Abilities * Superhuman Strength and Staff-Axe - While the rest of the Gatewatch tend to rely on their magic as a source of strength, and barring Gideon and Nissa they can't take much of a hit, Ajani is by far the most physically capable warrior on the team. Unlike the rest of the group, he is a veteran fighter against other mages and fighters, and even survived direct combat with Nicol Bolas, who could easily raze cities. His weapon of choice is a staff with a blade on either end, one being his own and the other being the blade of his brother. He is also known to split it in two weapons: a sword and an axe. * Healing - Ajani has an inherent talent in the art of healing, although the extent of this power can be inconsistent at times. He was able to heal fatal wounds in Chandra and Oviya during the Aether Revolt of Kaladesh, however he lacks the ability to apply this magic to himself. While he can fix minor injuries and wounds in a flash, he needs time and concentration to heal mortal wounds, meaning he would have to step out of battle in order to help a teammate. * Soul Magic - Ajani's most potent abilities stem from his unique ability to view and interact with the souls of other people, although the true extent of this power is hard to discern due to him mainly using it in the Alara arc. Its main uses allowed Ajani to summon blindingly hot bolts of energy akin to lightning to strike his foes, as well as calling upon magical flames that both damage his enemies and regenerate his allies' health. More potent and mana-intensive abilities allow Ajani to effectively sever the mana bonds of human and nonhuman creatures he fights, causing them to temporarily lose access to all magical abilities. Mages find empty hands for spells, Dragons' fires sputter out, you name it. He can also summon "effigies" of people, as in, create a perfect image of them out of the very fabric of their soul that fight them, with their magic and abilities. The later, however, takes an enormous amount of mana, and Ajani is only expected to use it once in the battle, if at all. |-| The Dark Mage= Liliana Vess Liliana Vess is an ancient Necromancer planeaswalker from the plane of Dominaria, and is the only member of the Gatewatch to have been born before the Mending. She joined the gatewatch in their fight against the greatest Eldrazi Titan, Emrakul, on the plane of Innistrad, using the dark magic of her chain veil to repel the horror until it was sealed away. She stayed with the team under the guise of friendship; in reality she saw the group as tools to gain back pieces of her soul lost to demons that she had to fight across the multiverse. However, by the events of Kaladesh, she had warmed up to the team, although still retaining questionable morals and a uneasy relationship with Nissa. Magic, Weapons, and Abilities *Death Magic - Liliana's typical forms of attack are in her manipulation of life and death that take the form of dark tendrils emerging from the ground and grasping her enemies, as well as dark bolts of energy that she can fire out of her hands. These attacks rapidly decay living organic flesh, draining the life energy of enemies she fights. This goes anywhere from instantly killing a greater Sand Wurm, to reducing groups of Eldrazi-infected townsfolk to dust within seconds. * Necromancy and Summons - Liliana is hardly one to run a fair fight, and when the going gets tough she can pack an entire army at a fingertip. She is a talented necromancer with hundreds of years of experience in the art, and can casually raise hundreds of corpses without even touching the Chain Veil. Zombies raised by Liliana can still run, and appear to have superhuman strength and durability, however they lack any form of higher intelligence, blindly attacking her enemies. Liliana can also summon Shades, or spirits aligned to black mana to harass her enemies. They take various forms from Banshee-like horrors with sharp talons to sword-wielding archons. * The Chain Veil - Liliana's ultimate trump-card, the Chain Veil is a cursed dark artifact with the trapped souls of thousands and possibly millions of Onnake warriors. Her previous abilities are agumented to a ridiculous degree, even allowing her to temporarily combat the Eldrazi titan Emrakul (who can eat the essence of an entire plane) directly, withering tentacles the size of mountains within seconds. She's also virtually untouchable in this state; magic dissipates near her and weapons and flesh rapidly decay in her immediate vicinity. The drawback of this is that Liliana rapidly expends her own energy and can possibly die from using it, and was even reluctant to pull it out in a battle with Nicol Bolas. Notes * Jace will be hard-pressed to use his telepathic abilities, as all of the Heroes of Maple have some sort of resistance to mind control, with heroes like Phantom even having abilities that can make his mind attacks backfire. * This is the Gatewatch as of the events of Aether Revolt, before they arrive on the plane of Amonkhet. * To clarify, Liliana's necromancy is certainly powerful enough to raise a fallen member of the Heroes. She was teased to even be capable of making the entire Gatewatch into zombie minions. Since the battlefield will be on the aftermath of a massacre in Leafre, she will also have a reasonable amount of corpses in the general area to use. 'Heroes of Maple' The Black Mage grew in influence, his dark hand creeping across the entirety of the Maple world. Every corner, from Leafre to Lith Harbor bucked and fell as his dark generals slaughtered entire towns, and drew closer to the Temple of Time. All from different origins, Heroes from around the globe banded together to stop the domination of the Black Mage, consisting of Freud, Mercedes, Phantom, Luminous, and Eunwol. In a climactic battle at the Temple of Time, the Heroes alongside the Demon weakened and imprisoned the Black Mage in a prison outside of time and space, at the cost of the existence of one of Eunwol. The remaining heroes were cursed by the Black Mage to be frozen in ice to forget their lives and lose their powers, the process of which killed the original Dragon Summoner, Freud. After Luminous, Aran, Phantom, and Mercedes emerged from their prisons, they awakened to a world not yet free from the influence of the Black Mage, many of them embarking on quests to discover their former selves and regain their former powers. Ultimately, the Heroes would reunite with one another under the leadership of their newest addition, Evan, to take down the remaining commanders of the Black Mage, beginning with Damien. |-| The Warrior= Aran Aran is one of the six original Heroes who sealed away the Black Mage and is the sole Warrior of the group. However, the dark mage cast a powerful spell to spite the remaining heroes, imprisoning them in ice for centuries. Aran, found herself thawed out on the icy island of Rein hundreds of years later, and discovered she had lost all of her power and memories from bygone eras. Eventually chancing upon rest of the heroes and regaining her lost power, Aran joined with her former comrades to fight against Damien, a commander of the Black Mage. Aran adopts a sort of 'big sister' personality towards her team. She is often jovial and fun-loving, but is quick to anger and jump into battle. Magic, Weapons, and Abilities * Polearm and Spirit Summoning - Aran's polearm actually bears more of a semblance to a medieval Halberd, albeit shorter and thicker than a typical weapon of the sort. Aran's polearm is inhabited by a sentient spirit, Maha, who granted Aran special enhancements to her attack power and skills as she regained his trust. Aran's weapon also summons the spirits of powerful beasts such as bears and wolves, who attack with the motions of her polearm and enhance her strikes. * Ice Manipulation - Aran has the ability to manipulate ice more substantially as she builds on her combo, from freezing opponents in place temporarily to creating giant icy polearms she can drop on her enemies. At a high enough combo, Aran can summon entire blizzards to attack her opponents. This also grants her an immunity to ice-based attacks. * Combo - Aran's attack potency, abilities, and magic increase drastically the longer she is in direct combat with an opponent. As previously mentioned, combo allows her to summon more powerful beast spirits and enhance her ice powers. Another ability of combo is for Aran to regenerate her health the more she strikes her opponent, and create shields for herself and her allies. High enough combos allow her to use abilities like Judgement, which drops an enormous polearm on her foes. |-| The Glass Cannon= Mercedes Mercedes is the group's resident Archer, and is the eldest/only nonhuman member of the group, representing her kingdom of elves. She is the Queen of the Elves, ruling in a secluded town known as Elluel. She uses Dual Bowguns and Magic Arrows for weapons. Also frozen in ice as a result of a curse from the Black Mage, Mercedes was released with all of her abilities stripped away, having to work back up to her original level of skill, and work towards unfreezing her kingdom, who had also been cursed by the Black Mage. Eventually, she caught up with the surviving members of the Heroes of Maple, and helped take down Damien. Magic, Weapons, and Abilities * Bowguns and Magic Arrows - Yes, they are called bowguns. No, they don't fire bullets. A better comparison to how Mercedes's weapons work is if you managed to load a bunch of magic missile spells into a revolver and began to fire them at a rapid speed. While Mercedes is a master markswoman, she focuses mainly on large area-of-effect attacks, dealing out as much damage as humanly possible. She has an theoretically infinite ammo pool, however her bows are derived from her mana, which is limited. She can fire a horizontal stream of arrows with abilities like Ishtar's Ring, and fires hails of arrows with abilities like Leap Tornado. * Elven Physiology - Mercedes might have very little in terms of defensive capabilities, however she makes up for it in terms of agility. Mercedes has a small healing factor, can climb ropes, ladders, and vines at ridiculously high rates, and has a natural resistance to curses and mind control. * Sylvidia - Mercedes has a mounted Pegasus/unicorn that she can ride on to achieve flight, although her attacks are limited while mounted to melee attacks from Sylvidia. Nonetheless, her mount can traverse both the ground and the sky at remarkable speeds. |-| The Summoner= Evan Evan was a regular farmboy in the land surrounding Henesys before his cousin uncovered a suspicious egg that he gave to his little sibling. Little did he know that the egg was the last remaining Onyx dragon egg, which had a spiritual connection to the ancient heroes Freud and Afrein, the former killed in the climatic battle with the Black Mage. Exploring the world of Maple with his newborn dragon Myr, Evan eventually met the still living other heroes, and allied with them once more, keeping the group together like his predecessor Freud had, and becoming the defacto leader. Magic, Weapons, and Abilities * Mir - Mir is the last remaining Onyx dragon and companion of Evan. By the time Evan reaches his fourth job advancement, Mir is fully matured, and utilizes a large variety of breath-based attacks alongside powerful melee strikes. Among these are various fire, frost, and lightning breath attacks, a healing mist that surrounds his allies, and the ability to create temporary illusory clones to attack enemies. * Mage Abilities - Evan is also a decent magic user, and can use powerful spells with his staff such as short burst teleportation, magic missiles, and a variety of elemental magic that he can use in tandem with attacks from Myr. Among his elemental powers are the ability to summon thunderstorms and lightning, summoning circles of magma from the ground, and creating powerful gusts of air. One of Evan's most power attacks creates a dark fog for a short duration that obscures vision and damages enemies inside. |-| The Tactician= Phantom The Phantom was a world-renowned thief who originally planned to steal a legendary gem from the empress of Ereve, before falling in love with her and vowing to fight the Black Mage on her behalf after her tragic death. Approaching Freud, the Phantom joined the Heroes as their rogue, utilizing his magical abilities to help seal the Black Mage. After thawing out of the ice left by the Black Mage's curse, the Phantom once more roamed the Maple World, working alone until he joined in the fight against Damien. Magic, Weapons, and Abilities * Cards and Cane - Phantom's signature physical attacks are based around a deck of magical cards and a sword/cane that he uses for a variety of offensive and supportive abilities. Phantom can teleport in short bursts in a flurry of cards, and he can create storms and streams of cards that deal heavy damage to opponents as if they were shurikens. He is an expert swordsman, and charges his cane swipes with magical energy before releasing a flurry of attacks. * Phantom's Eye - The Phantom is naturally and supernaturally perceptive, whose eye glows when he accesses a situation or person. Using his eye, he can discover weaknesses of his opponents, sense intent, see through illusions, and resist mind-based attacks (to an extent. Lotus, an extremely powerful telepath, was still able to mindhax him). * Ability Steal - Phantom has the ability to steal abilities from the Adventurer class, giving him access to a toolbox of buffs and attacks. When using stolen abilities, his staff turns into an appropriate golden weapon, and preforms an attack with a bow or staff or sword with the exact skill and capability of the previous wielder. While this makes Phantom inconsistent in power as he can only take three abilities, he will have access to the abilities he used in his cinematic intro: Hurricane (a Bowmaster skill, where he fires a barrage of arrows "like rain", while still being able to maneuver the battlefield), Hyper Body (A Dark Knight ability which fortifies his teammate's health and mana), and Haste (A Rogue ability that slightly increases the speed of him and his allies). |-| The Medium= Eunwol Eunwol is the final and forgotten hero of the group, who was an active and often jovial member before he first used his ability to walk between dimensions to escape an untimely death at the hands of the Black Mage. Waking up hundreds of years later to a dimension with fox-like people, Eunwol ultimately helped the citizens overcome a daunting invasion, and was rewarded with access to powerful spirit summoning magics that would aid him in his travels. He was still bent on finding a way back to his dimension, and with help, achieved this, however it was revealed that Shade is erased from history in all universes when he travels from one to another. In the events of the game, Eunwol works towards honing his spirit powers to take down Damien and the Black Wings, and rebuilding his relationship with the remaining Heroes. Magic, Weapons, and Abilities * Spirit Claw - While most pirates in Maplestory use their claw as a devastating melee weapon, Eunwol uses it to summon powerful spirits to attack and defend for him in battle. A-la Jojo, a powerful Nature spirit appears from his back to rapidly punch his enemies in tandem with his attacks, and he can also summon a blade imp that latches onto his enemies and pulls them within melee range. With each of his attacks, he can summon fox spirits to harass his enemies, and one of his most devastating attacks splits the soul from the body of his opponent, weakening both targets to his next flurry of hits. In one of his larger attacks, he can summon dozens upon dozens of spirits to blitz his enemies, and one of his most potent skills leaves a grim spirit draining the health of one opponent until he is knocked out or killed. In spite of all of these magical powers and summons, Eunwol still uses his claw in a typical manner as a melee weapon, charging it with a magical energy. * Fox Trot and mobility skills - Eunwol has a surprising amount of mobility, with Foxtrot being his most potent. He can teleport directly in front of his enemies for a surprise attack, and jump or dash backwards with remarkable speeds to escape an unfavorable situation. * Close Call - Perhaps Eunwol's most unique ability among the heroes, Close Call essentially gives him an "extra life". If he is dealt lethal damage in combat, he is revived by a guardian spirit, although he can only use this ability once every half an hour. When he is revived, he is temporarily invincible, and enemies in his immediate vicinity are pushed back. He gains back all of his health and stamina, effectively healing any injuries he had when using this ability. |-| The Dark Mage= Luminous Luminous' backstory was never described in detail, other than that he was a holy mage of great power who allied himself with the heroes in their final assault against the Black Mage. Defeating several the mage's commanders including Magnus and Guwaru, Luminous discovered that his freinds were near death after the compeltion of the sealing spell against the Black Mage, and that his mortal enemy was attempting to escape the spell as it was being cast. In the process of fighting him, however, Luminous was corrupted by the Black Mage, absorbing a significant portion his power, before he was frozen alongside the rest of the heroes as part of the curse. Luminous is level-headed and honorable, a personality that directly contradicts the sly and underhanded nature of his ally, the Phantom. After regaining his lost power, he still struggled with the tug-of-war of light and darkness within him, however he eventually came to term with his darker half, mastering it and using it to vanquish the remaining Black Wings commanders. Magic, Weapons, and Abilities * The Light Path - Luminous' light abilities focus on mobility and mobbing, rapidly moving around the battlefield and taking out large masses of weaker enemies. His light magic allows him to fire concentrated beams of sunlight that can refract off of enemies to hit as many as possible. He can also use his light powers to heal his teammates and deflect status effects temporarily (mind control, poison, binding... it essentially increases his resistance to most magical effects). Being made of light, his attacks in his light form also tend to stun enemies, allowing him to pull of multiple attacks before having to retreat. His light abilities are weakened in Dark Mode, however, and his attacks tend to do less damage overall. * The Dark Path - The dark path focuses on self-buffs on attack and defense, and dealing massive damage to one single enemy. From summoning dark orbs of energy to chase down his enemies to summoning two scythe-wielding demons, and even dropping solid dark crystals on his enemies from above, his dark abilities tend to be more varied, but only preform well against one enemy at a time. However, he can still hit more enemies with his Apocalypse spell, which releases masses of dark energy from both above and below his foes, dealing massive damage. His dark abilities are weakened in Light Mode, and his attacks tend to focus too much on one single enemy, leaving him open to attacks from large masses of opponents. * Equilibrium - Luminious' trump card, Equilibrium allows him access to both his light and dark spells and gives him massive improvements in both paths. He reaches this state when using an abundance of light spells in his dark mode, or using an abundance of dark spells in his light mode, meaning he has to cripple his effectiveness in attacks for several minutes before. His dark spells cost him no mana at all in this phase, and his light spells gain him health on each hit, and he has access to his most powerful spell, Ender, which rapidly drops a spear of dark and light energy on all his enemies with the advantages of light and dark magic. However, this state has a remarkably short duration, and if he uses either light or dark spells it quickly takes him out of it. * These are the Heroes after the events of the Heroes of Maple cinematic within the game. * I didn't take the liberty to mention all of their skills since this is from a massive RPG that has entire wiki pages dedicated towards single heroes in this respect, and therefore I didn't mention buffs and passive skills that just increase attack or defense. To note, however, all of the heroes have some sort of resistance to mind control to mind attacks and status effects like poison. 'X- Factors' Leadership Both teams suffer greatly in this regard, however the Gatewatch are particularly piss poor at keeping a strong leading voice. Gideon and Jace could be called the defacto leaders due to their strategies against the Eldrazi, however both of them tend to disagree at times, and Chandra/Liliana have even openly disregarded their orders before. The Heroes actually have a leader by unanimous decision, Evan, who, while a great motivator, lacks much of the tactics and experience a normal leader should have. The difference here is that the Heroes improved this over troubles and time, whereas the Gatewatch are still kind of stuck where they began. Teamwork Again, there are issues with this on both sides. At times, members of both teams have actually fought, namely Chandra with the Gatewatch and Phantom with the Heroes, and both teams have only been active technically for around 4-6 months. Both teams have coordinated attacks, however the Heroes actually improved their relationships and trust after the events of the cinematic, whereas the Gatewatch had distrust and even a betrayal right up to their bitter end at the hands of Nicol Bolas. Experience This is where it generally evens out, as both of the teams have seasoned warriors and experienced mages, both with two outliers that are hundreds of years old in the form of Liliana and Mercedes respectively. Both teams have an extensive combat history against a wide variety of enemies, and both have fought god-like beings, whether it be the Black Mage or the Eldrazi. Tactics The Gatewatch have the most bleedingly obvious issues here. The quote above shows how the team has an issue of overconfidence and straight-forward thinking, the ancient dragon even telling Gideon that he had "fought against thousands of generals, thousands of tacticians and strategists and battle masterminds," and that he was the worst. They aren't completely incompetent, however, as they were able to stage an underground rebellion on Kaladesh and outsmart one of Bolas's own generals. The Heroes, on the other hand, plotted out an intricate spell to seal the Black Mage, even staging an assault on the Temple of Time, although they have suffered in this regard after they lost Freud. Physicality Across all boards, the Gatewatch tend to have the most potent and destructive spells and physical feats, however the Heroes are remarkably more mobile then them. While the Gatewatch can keep up with planeswalkers who can dodge and cast lighting, teleportation gives many of the magic users on the opposing team an indisputable mobility edge. This goes to the Gatewatch, however, as they edge out in durability and pure physical feats, and many of them have a resistance to magical attacks and even have ways to dispel them. Brutality Liliana greatly skews the Gatewatch's brutality, and often kills her enemies with unthinkable and extremely painful methods. She also uses intimidation and torture as tools of the trade, although she tones this down when in the presense of other team members. Other than that, both generally avoid killing unless it it absolutely necessary. Setting Leafre: Dragon Forest The Consulate in tatters, and Tezzeret's schemes in dissaray, the Gatewatch taste one victory - only to realize a greater conflict ahead. Nicol Bolas still lies on his own plane of Amonkhet, his schemes threatening peace in the multiverse and his plans for an interplanar gate making the stakes higher than ever. A disgruntled Ajani decides to join the Gatewatch as they planeswalk to Amonkhet, able to convince the team to only investigate the plane and leave instead of directly confronting the dragon planeswalker. However, the planeswalkers don't land on the plane of Amonkhet. In fact, they land in a plane completely alien to them, likening it to magical defenses put up around Bolas' lair. What they don't realize is that they have landed in the Maple World, right smack dab in the middle of a battle between the Heroes and the Black Wings. The Heroes of Maple, after a fateful battle with Damien and saving what was left of the World Tree, have but a short break before the Black Mage and his minions gain their attention. They track down a large number of the Black Wings into the Minor Forest of Leafre, discovering an attempt to create a sort of magical portal akin to the one connecting the world to Heliseum. Assuming this is an attempt to summon the Black Mage himself from within the seal in time, they stage an all-out assault, killing numerous thugs and commanders before reaching the portal itself. They're too late, however, as the portal activates and summons... a group of mages? Leafre's Dragon Forests are a wasteland with sparce trees, absurd rock formations, and is a graveyard of past conflicts with the Black Mage's commanders as well as the corpses of numerous Dragon Turtles that roam the lands aimlessly. Large spiky tendrils of wood sprout from the ground, making the place both a cradle of life and a crucible of death. Voting Rules Voting is closed. Both warriors tie, 1-1. Battle TBW Expert's Opinion TBW Category:Blog posts